


i knew you would forget (forget-me-nots)

by HeirOfRage



Category: Naruto
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Alternate Universe - Space, Amnesia, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bad Jokes, Depression, Disney References, Fluff and Angst, Hospitalization, Hurt/Comfort, In Medias Res, Lovers to Strangers to Idiots, M/M, Major Character Injury, Obito has approximately half a braincell, Obito is a pyromaniac, Pillow Fights, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Worried Hatake Kakashi, no beta we die like shinobi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:14:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28272942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeirOfRage/pseuds/HeirOfRage
Summary: And you’ll strew some sage and lilies,And roses where I rotOf all the flowers you picked,I knew you would forgetForget-me-nots.- The Amazing Devil  (Elsa's Song)Kakashi aims his AR-15 at Obito, letting the red line of his sniper scope dart over the Uchiha’s face playfully.“There seems to be no sign of intelligent life anywhere,” Kakashi chuckles in turn, making Obito look his way briefly. He swears he can see the mischief in Obito’s eyes - his visor gives them away easily.“How about you focus on your damn job, Hatake?”(ft. some sketches!)
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Uchiha Obito
Comments: 12
Kudos: 56
Collections: Naruto/Boruto Secret Santa 2020





	i knew you would forget (forget-me-nots)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Amikotsu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amikotsu/gifts).



> Secret Santa gift for Amikotsu! I decided to forgo the Christmas spirit. And realised I can't do canon, haha.

Kakashi is as if in a daze, head filled with white noise and eyes focused on the neatly stacked storage boxes. Through the interface of his visor, he can see the cyan outline of Obito's body through the wall. The earpiece in his left ear buzzes to life, crackling with static. Only the sound of Rin's voice seems to bring him back to the present and he nearly startles at the sound of his own breath within his helmet.

"Operative #010885 Nohara to Runner #009720. Hatake, can you hear me?" Her voice crinkles with more static.

"Affirmative, Operative Nohara,” Kakashi’s voice comes out quietly as he begins moving through the hall, eyes switching between Obito’s silhouette and the open corridor on his right. Rin speaks again.

"Any sightings of the intruders?"

"Negative, Operative Nohara,” he immediately echoes back, rounding the corner. He can see Obito right in front of him now, leaning out from the broken hatch door of the next section of the craft. Kakashi aims his AR-15 at Obito, letting the red line of his sniper scope dart over the Uchiha’s face playfully.

“There seems to be no sign of intelligent life anywhere,” Kakashi chuckles in turn, making Obito look his way briefly. He swears he can see the mischief in Obito’s eyes - his visor gives them away easily.

“How about you focus on your damn job, Hatake?” Obito snorts from the other end of the hall, turning back to the hall. By the way he stays low, Kakashi knows that while Obito’s sensors have not picked up anything, the runner is still wary. Uneasy, almost. And Kakashi follows with the same careful movements.

He only hears the silent beeping of his own sensor a second too late. It feels suffocating in the vacuum space of silence. Almost liminal.

And then the beeping grows louder, almost hysteric, and Kakashi can only watch as the walls around Obito convulse from the pressure until they are eventually broken through. And he cannot fire his gun in fear of hurting Obito, but he still does.

A second too late again.

Whatever it is, it pounces and Kakashi hears Obito scream. He rushes in and fires, the ringing in his ears too loud and too prominent. He sees Obito go down in front of him, body half smashed in with one of the panels the creature had previously managed to cave in and break.

But he hit it in his blindness. Instead of caring whether the creature is dead for real, Kakashi rushes to Obito’s side. He is yelling something to Rin over the comms, and she is yelling right back at him but he isn’t focusing. There is so much blood. Obito’s visor is smashed through and Kakashi is helpless at trying to remove him from underneath the rubble.

The panels above him creak and in his desperation, he looks up just as a part of them collapses right on top of him.

The last thing he remembers is the ringing in his ears.

* * *

_T-5._  
_Konoha Space Fleet Headquarters_  
_Docking station 5B_  
_Est. time 1400_

Crossing one another in the hangars and gossiping has become a routine occurrence. Teams returning from missions would meet with Runners returning from their training sessions or maintenance checks.

And _by the Stars_ , is the gossip usually rich. Konoha’s gossip mill runs wide and deep and of course, it is Genma who is one of the main contributors - the man has eyes and ears just about everywhere.

Kakashi tunes in halfway past their usual mark, sad to have missed the updates on who beat whose ass in this and that hallway, and not so sad to have missed the detailed updates on Genma’s love life.

At least this time, the topic is something that will not make half of the government representatives descend upon him like a group of frenzied animals. _Maybe_.

“You know, this is why they have the Commanders switch after a couple of years. That position is bound to drive people insane. There is a set time you can fill the function before they deem you ready for retirement. I think you can repeatedly sign up after someone else replaces you unless there isn’t anyone signing up. That’s why old man Hiruzen stayed up there so long. The previous two Commanders have both fucked off for the time being.”

The way Genma explains things is rather crass and it makes Kakashi roll his eyes. Genma isn’t wrong but between chewing on various metal objects and drinking himself silly in his dorm, Genma doesn’t often tend to partake in political discussions. Unless he is drunk. He still continues as they walk through the hangar, passing by people left and right, many familiar and wearing the unmistakable suits of the Konoha Fleet. From time to time, someone from other fleets passes them.

“Do you think that’s why he went into an early grave?” Obito asks from Kakashi’s other side, stifling a yawn whilst trying to sneakily rub his eyes. They have been troubling him for a while now and while Obito doesn’t seem to be too concerned about them, saying that they will get better soon and that he is just having an allergic reaction to the new venting system, Kakashi knows better.

“Wel, he practically set himself up for that one,” Genma continues, “he ignored the warnings from the Oto Fleet. And told the rest of us to do so too, since they were ‘no threat at all’. Like, I am sad and all, but he had it coming.”

There is a moment of silence as they all catch up with Genma’s words. Raidō, who had been silent the entire time, finally speaks up:

“I think that’s enough. If you want to discuss this, do it elsewhere. Not all of us want to remember that event happening.”

And he is right, Kakashi thinks belatedly, perking up when he notices Rin running at them from the other side of the hangar with a wide grin on her face. By the time she finally gets to them, the grin is even brighter and their friends have parted ways with them, knowing that this is where their crossing paths end.

“Boys, good news!” She announces, stopping to give herself a moment to breathe. She also greets the others with a quick ‘hello!’ before turning back to her team:

“We have landed a mission in sector S.”

Kakashi raises a brow at that. Sector S is notoriously dangerous - unidentified life forms, messed up gravity from the nearby stars, frequent meteor showers. Only the best and most skilled teams are sent that way. The survival rates are also not the best - that is the only thing that Kakashi is worried about.

Obito and he would have to expose themselves to the unknown. Rin, as their Operator would stay back at the HQ and navigate them through whatever abandoned craft they would be exploring. Her job is primarily to support them from afar by providing them with visuals and aiding them by hacking the crafts’ mainframes.

It’s a vital role and Rin does her best to be perfect at it.

“Which part of the sector are they sending us to?” Obito asks absent-mindedly, still rubbing at his reddening eyes. Rin doesn’t seem to like that, quite concerned by Obito’s state.

“The craft was abandoned in the asteroid belt near Jupiter. It moves relatively slowly so there should be no issue getting in and out of there with a smaller ship,” Rin muses, grabbing at Obito’s hands before he can actually scratch his eyes out.

“If your eyes are bothering you again, we should turn the mission down and take up something easier,” she does eventually let go of Obito’s hands, grabbing his face gently to turn it towards the light, “you know that you shouldn’t even be in the force, and especially not a Runner like this.”

And she is right. Most of the Uchiha retire quickly and assume official positions in the HQ instead of going out on missions once their eyesight starts getting worse. They make formidable Runners but for many, it is over too soon. Obito is only getting by in the force because Rin, as a part of the medical staff, keeps forging Obito’s eye tests which say his eyesight is still fine. She knows that she is going against the authorities and the system, and that she could find herself punished and lose her position, but she cares deeply for her friend. Kakashi appreciates that. Yet, he also thinks that Obito should perhaps make this his last mission for a while and then potentially try the experimental eye surgery Senjū Tobirama has been working on for a while now, together with his niece Tsunade, at the request of his brother.

“I’ll be fine,” Obito retorts and reaches up to remove Rin’s hands from his face with a smile, “I told you it’s just allergies. Must be all those new vents and oxygen purifiers they installed two months ago.”

Obito drones on about having a talk with the tech staff - and Kakashi catches Rin’s eyes on him, pleading him silently to talk to Obito about things. She knows that Kakashi is the only one who could potentially persuade Obito to take the whole deal seriously and settle down for the time being.

Because even Obito sometimes listens to his partner more than to others. With Rin, Commander Namikaze, and his wife being the exceptions, of course, but Kakashi is always able to knock some sense into his thick skull. Even he himself is sometimes surprised when Obito actually decides to listen to him.

“We’ll talk about this later,” Kakashi ends up saying pointedly, clasping Obito on the back before leading him back towards their dorms with a firm grip on his suit-uniform.

* * *

_Present, circa 14 solar days after the accident; T+14._  
_Konoha Space Fleet Headquarters_  
_Medical Bay; sector 2, unit 38_  
_Est. time 0900_

Kakashi can hear ringing in his ears accompanied by quiet beeping again. It is as if waking up after a long dream, with consciousness that is fuzzy around the edges. He feels the same way as he did when he woke up for the first time after the accident - mostly confused and hurting.

It still feels surreal. The sheets under his face smell of standard-issue synthetic detergent and his back is hurting badly from the position he is bent in.

No matter how much he tries, he cannot wake up from this horrible nightmare called life. Obito lies next to him, still comatose after suffering from head trauma. Kakashi no longer recalls how long Obito has been asleep.

(That is a lie. He knows precisely how long it has been. It has been 14 days since the accident and 12 days since he woke up. He **has** been counting since he woke up.)

And yet, he is not losing hope just yet. He knows that Obito is a headstrong individual and far too stubborn to remain like this. He **will** wake up. He **must** wake up. Kakashi knows it because Obito wouldn’t leave him alone like this, right?

Perhaps the sun will shine on Kakashi for once too. He had already lost his father post a fleet mission. He cannot lose Obito too. Even if he still has Rin and Minato, they alone won’t succeed in keeping him sane.

The calm beeping of the heart monitor is starting to become monotone - the steady _beep beep_ sounds are too even. It makes Kakashi want to tear his hair out. It drives him insane and he feels helpless. Stupid for not being more observant. Now he is stuck here, blaming himself for Obito’s injuries.

He wants to run but against his better judgement, he doesn’t. He merely gets up and walks across the room to get himself some water, stopping to rest his forehead against the cool wall-panel. Somehow he manages to zone out, cursing once he realises that he’s overfilled his cup and all the water is now streaming out. Past the cup’s edge, over his fingers, and down on the floor.

Kakashi quickly backs up and beelines back to his seat by Obito’s bed, casting a look at his partner. Obito’s skin has long since lost its rich colour, now ashen, and his once handsome face - don’t get him wrong, Obito is still handsome nevertheless - now boasts uneven bandages on either side.

He had seen the right side - _mangled_ \- when the medics redressed it and he doesn’t think that he will be able to look at it again without feeling remorse.

He’s about to sit down again when something catches his attention. Just the subtlest movements of Obito’s fingers - twitches, really - that slowly turn into Obito’s fists grabbing at the sheets and curling.

Kakashi alarms the medics in panic (and excitement), clinging to the call button. He is at Obito’s bedside in an instant, grasping Obito’s hand. It only takes a couple of seconds but Obito’s uncovered eye flutters open with great difficulty. At first, he only stares at the ceiling before Kakashi leans into his field of vision with a hopeful look on his face.

All seems fine. Obito’s face (or what is exposed of it) displays confusion but that is absolutely normal after just waking up from being comatose after a freak incident.

“Hey,” Kakashi speaks quietly, giving Obito’s hand a little squeeze. There is a bit of a commotion outside and Kakashi assumes that it is the medics moving about. He wishes Rin were here. It would make things easier for them both.

Obito’s eye moves, following the sound of Kakashi’s voice until he is staring Kakashi right in the face. The confusion does not disappear.

“Who are you?” Obito croaks, voice rough like gravel after not being used for a while. Kakashi's heart shatters. He can practically hear it breaking, his own voice silently repeating ‘no’ like a mantra under his breath.

It can’t be.

“It’s Kakashi, Obito. Don’t you remember?” And yet Obito replies negatively, shaking his head from side to side. He does not remember who Kakashi is, nor does he recognise his own name.

“I don’t know you. Nor do I know who ‘Obito’ is…” he speaks with great difficulty, having to take shuddering breaths every few words. And Kakashi cannot handle it. Cannot handle the fact that Obito does not remember him. His best friend and partner. All of their lives lost just like that.

He wants to run again. And this time, he does. Right past Sakura who had just entered, startling the teen.

“He’s awake,” Kakashi simply mumbles before bolting, leaving Sakura standing there in the door. He needs a break and no one dares to stop him as he makes his way through the medical bay to the nearest empty hallway. There, he collapses with his back against the wall, slowly sliding down until he can hide his face in his knees and cover his head with his arms.

Kakashi refuses to cry but he can still feel his eyes sting and his vision blur. He ends up screwing his eyes shut instead, pressing his head further against his knees.

Unfortunately, he doesn’t last too long in that position. The desire to see Obito and make sure he is alright is stronger than him. In the end, Kakashi ends up getting up, grabbing coffee on the way instead of the water he had abandoned. Slowly (and with reluctance), he returns to Obito’s room.

Upon stepping in, Kakashi simply stops by the door to observe the ongoing scene.

“Move your arm up for me, please,” Sakura’s low voice echoes in the empty medical unit. Her hands are grasping Obito’s wrist and the elbow of his right arm - arm that no longer retains human skin but synthetic skin instead, made of tiny nanobots that imitate Obito’s natural skin colour.

Obito’s right arm is gone, Kakashi belatedly realises, replaced by a bionic duplicate. Most of his right side has been terribly crushed by the metal panel. His skin is heavily scarred and discoloured, crushed bones still in the healing stage after several surgical reconstructions. Obito’s left eye is gone too. There is even further damage done to most of his inner tissues and Kakashi cannot phantom what the two of them will do now.

What he will do now. With Obito. Obito, who does not remember him or anything at all. Obito, who barely speaks now and who stares blankly at the glass window in front of him as Sakura moves his new arm around. He looks as lost as Kakashi feels.

He does not know what he will do with Obito in their new shared living quarters. Obito needs a caretaker now that his state is beyond fixing. He cannot perform active duty - or any duty at all - and needs help moving around and learning new things over and over again.

Kakashi _should agree_ to do that for him. For his partner who no longer knows that the two of them had been in a relationship. He _agrees_ because he too cannot go back to active duty. Once he recovers, he can go back to working at the HQ but there will be no more active duty for him. Not for someone who too now boasts only one eye; the other lost when he ran to rescue Obito only to get smacked in the head by another panel.

He was lucky. Obito did not have such luck.

“Can you move your fingers?” From behind his fringe, Kakashi watches as Obito wordlessly complies, slowly and methodically wiggling the fingers of his synthetic limb. All in working order then.

Sakura writes it down diligently, helping Obito with the careful calibration in order to prevent future failure. The worst thing about it is that Obito does not seem to be the same him. The look on his face is solemn, bordering on blank. He’s mostly focusing on his hands but Kakashi can feel his eyes on him from time to time.

“We’ll proceed with further exercises in walking later.”

Sakura’s voice drowns out most of Kakashi’s intrusive thoughts and yet the hard plastic of his reusable cup cracks under the pressure of his fingers.

* * *

They have been relocated.

Following both of their injuries and Obito’s amnesia, it has been decided that the two of them will be permanently moved to another wing. No longer will they live in the dorm-like chambers of the Runners but rather further away where the ordinary staffers - mechanics, technicians, medical staff - live with their families. It’s a long way back to the training arena and Kakashi suspects this was done on purpose so he would not sneak out.

Passing the threshold of their new home feels almost alien. The little flat-like structure is cosy. Far too much, and for a moment, Kakashi freezes in the door as he takes it in. It’s too nice and so unlike his previous room.

He eventually convinces himself to step through, letting his bag slip off his shoulder and down onto the floor before turning to watch Obito. It is fascinating to watch how the Uchiha takes his new living space in. His eye are wide as he looks at the open space and plenty of seemingly unknown technology and appliances.

Carefully, Obito shuts the door behind him and sets his own things down. His eye never ceases to wander and where his eye goes, so do his feet, and his hands - one synthetic and one real - both touching the various surfaces, curiously exploring the shapes and textures that Obito’s senses are presented with.

Kakashi watches solemnly. He understands that they placed him with Obito because the two of them had been partners and because of that, he is the ideal candidate to help Obito return to a normal life. And yet, he feels like Obito shouldn’t have been the one.

_Obito should not have been the one--- it should have been **him**._

The guilt sits deep in his stomach to the point it gets too much and Kakashi has to forcefully turn his head away from Obito. Instead, to distract himself, he grabs his things again and moves further into the flat to find his bedroom and potentially take a nap while leaving Obito to his own devices.

Hopefully, he does not burn the house down in the meantime. Kakashi has faith in him.

As it turns out, as much as Obito used to be graceful and swift on their missions, he retains as much in his muscle memory. He does get a little clumsier and it takes him a while to get used to his prosthetic and his screwed-up depth perception. At least unlike Kakashi, he (probably) doesn’t remember how it is to see with both eyes.

(Kakashi himself takes weeks to stop accidentally running into door frames.)

But, much to his credit, Obito does get the hang of things quickly. He sometimes goes out of his way to try and talk to Kakashi, asks him about things - what they did before, what was the cause of his injury (which leaves Kakashi feeling guilty all over again), or any other snippets of information.

He does not, however, allow Kakashi to spoil his favourite things to him. Or the food he likes and dislikes, insisting on trying everything on his own again and finding out what he likes for himself. It is amusing to watch him gobble up the blueberry pancakes Rin makes for them on her day off or to watch him subtly spit his coffee back into the standard-issue Konoha Fleet cup after insisting he doesn’t need cream nor sugar.

For Kakashi, it is still difficult to come to terms with certain things. He seeks help through Sakura who in turn references him to Tsunade for therapy.

There is much to fix.

The accident had left Kakashi with a severe case of PTSD and MDD - Major Depressive Disorder. He must admit that in the beginning, he had refused to listen to Tsunade until she practically forced him to. Not angrily but almost in a mother-like fashion. It seemed almost unbecoming of her and Kakashi pointed that out only to dodge Tsunade’s pen a second later.

So maybe that wasn’t the best start he could have ever had, okay. But things got better with time. He had learned how to listen and how to cope, how to talk things out and how to divert his attention. Tsunade slipped him some of Tobirama’s newest fidget-puzzles. He had seen the man fiddle with them enough to know how they operate. Turns out they do really help him with taking his mind off of things.

Slowly but surely, he started getting better.

Obito is getting there too. He soon starts talking more and doesn’t avoid Kakashi as much. He must have already come to terms with the unavoidable and is willing to give their friendship another try. Tsunade encourages it - she tries to push Kakashi too, to make him open up, and to come to terms with what he is feeling. The guilt, especially. He’s heard how it’s not his fault over and over again but he still has a hard time believing that.

It hurts even more when he has to look at Obito interacting with Rin and Minato. Even Kushina. Everyone is patient with him but Obito still tends to get overwhelmed and withdraw from those conversations. And - eventually - everyone’s sight too.

That’s how Kakashi finds him from time to time - hugging a pillow on the couch, deeply engrossed in Disney movies. At first, he doesn’t understand. Obito spends hours upon hours curled up in the same position - always hugging a pillow to his chest, oftentimes at the edge of his seat, staring at the large screen in front of him.

It takes Kakashi an embarrassing amount of time to realise that not only is Obito trying to learn from them, but that they also function as his coping mechanism.

It is his personal way of filling the void in his mind and of getting distracted. Much like Kakashi has his books and fidget-puzzles, Obito has his outdated Disney movies. Kakashi sometimes watches from a distance. He never comes too close but he is always there when Obito finishes a movie with an obvious glint in his eye.

The one time Obito watches Lady and Tramp, he ends up begging Kakashi to help him in the kitchen so they could dine spaghetti and meatballs much like in the movie. At least Obito is aware that he needs supervision and help. After months, it is the first activity that they do together and against all odds, Kakashi finds it natural. Just as before. The two of them fall into a comfortable rhythm and it is potentially the first time that both of them laugh genuinely and in earnest.

“I don’t think it’s supposed to look like this,” Obito remarks as he looks at the mess. At the same time, Kakashi concludes that neither of them should probably be allowed in the kitchen again. Still, he cannot help the smile that creeps up on his face.

“It might not look the way it did in the movie but I promise it tastes better than it looks,” with a bit of reassuring, Obito ends up believing Kakashi. The suspicious look doesn’t disappear from his face until he tastes the food (which he genuinely seems to enjoy), giving Kakashi another bright smile.

Things become a bit easier after that. They both make the effort to come around. To ask each other things, show each other things they found. Sometimes they try cooking again but not without inviting Rin over first.

“I am actually surprised you two have not managed to burn the kitchen down yet. Especially since we all know that Obito has a pyromaniac streak,” Rin tells them one day between layering vegetables in the dish in front of her. From the side, Obito perks up, knife poised.

“I do?”

Kakashi can see the exact moment something clicks in the Uchiha’s eyes. A second later, a manic grin spreads over Obito’s face.

“Oh no, you don’t,” Kakashi hisses at Rin who shrinks with a guilty smile, innocently raising her hands in surrender. Informing Obito of his very dangerous habit in the kitchen (of all places) is just asking for a disaster. Kakashi turns to Obito, holding the knife in his hand up so he could point it at Obito threateningly.

“I will just remind you that this was your idea,” he pointedly (no pun intended) reminds Obito before gesturing at the mess they have made. Obito has been the main driving force behind it again, having finished watching Ratatouille the day before. He’s the sole reason that both Kakashi and Rin are now stuck chopping vegetables in their pitiful little kitchen.

At the same time, he’s glad that Obito is getting back to his chaotic self and initiating more friendly interactions. Gone are the days post-accident during which he would sit on the couch uncomfortably, tensing whenever someone entered the same room as him. Which was often.

They have all missed Obito but Kakashi has missed him the most. They used to be partners. In crime and in life. And now they have lost both.

Maybe Obito will come around one day. Maybe they will become partners once again. But not anytime soon. They have time now. He, nor anyone else, is ever going to force Obito into anything. Especially not this.

“Kakashi?” Rin’s concerned voice tears him out of his thoughts. He realises he’s been standing there motionlessly, holding the knife. The best he can do is offer both Rin and Obito a sad smile.

* * *

As it turns out, the Disney addiction is not going away anytime soon. Obito watches through all the titles he can find, even going as far as to watch some movies thrice. It also means that Kakashi has lost his rights to talk during the movies lest he wants to get smacked in the face by a pillow.

Sometimes it leads to Obito forgoing the movie and engaging Kakashi in a full-blown pillow fight. It’s probably not a good idea as they have limited space but neither seems to care. Especially not at the moment.

It usually escalates when Kakashi sneaks in a snide comment that Obito wholeheartedly disagrees with. He has approximately two seconds after his mouth closes to evade the first pillow after delivering what he thinks was a pretty solid pick-up line.

“I can be the Mulan to your Shang.”

In hindsight, the line was actually pretty trash but Kakashi is much too proud to take it back, delighting in Obito garbling nonsense whilst swinging his pillow around wildly like a man possessed. Talk about the famed ‘Uchiha grace’.

If Kakashi wants to keep up, he usually has to run away to get his own pillow. But not today. Today he fights viciously so he could tear the pillow out of Obito’s hands and whack him instead to the point of them howling with laughter on the floor.

His mission is successful. He ends up smacking Obito hard enough for the Uchiha to go tripping over his feet, ending up on the floor in a strange half-seated half-reclined position.

“You are a filthy cheater,” Obito spits at him with a wide grin, grappling away at Kakashi’s hands so he could either pull the man down or pull himself up. Kakashi does not expect it, eyes widening as Obito’s entire weight pulls him down and he too comes crashing down on the floor.

He narrowly misses kneeing Obito in the gut, knee slipping past the Uchiha’s hip before he goes tumbling sideways. It elicits another howl of laughter from Obito and Kakashi cannot help it but join too. He nearly curls in on himself, tears in his eyes.

Their predicament is not even remotely funny but the two of them are still laughing like children.

Kakashi nearly misses when Obito’s cheerful laughter dies down and ends up replaced with a smile. Nearly. He notices much too late, barely coming down from his own fit of laughter when hands of different warmth touch his face.

This...this moment.

It took them a small eternity. A few months of carefully rebuilding their friendship. But they have finally gotten back on track and Kakashi feels like they have achieved a sense of normalcy (minus the obvious visual impairment) over time.

The familiarity still aches and all those months in, now, when Obito finally unexpectedly hugs him, Kakashi’s hands come to desperately clutch at the back of the Uchiha’s shirt, face burrowed in Obito’s shoulder. It feels like a dream.

Except it isn’t.

“I don’t remember you, or who you were to me, but I know that you are a good person that cares about me. And that I will learn to love you anew.”

The tears in his eyes continue to fall.

Perhaps happiness is underway.

**Author's Note:**

> Toss a kudos to your writer, maybe? Comments are nice too!


End file.
